


Of shadows and light - ARR

by 3D_Star



Series: Of shadows and light [1]
Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Explicit Language, Mild Gore, Named Warrior of Light (Final Fantasy XIV)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-22
Updated: 2020-09-22
Packaged: 2021-03-08 03:14:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,386
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26588728
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/3D_Star/pseuds/3D_Star
Summary: Akito's memories felt like a puzzle sometimes with some missing pieces. Why did the Echo only work to show other people's memories?This is Akito Comet's (my WoL) journey through A Realm Reborn and beyond!
Relationships: Haurchefant Greystone/Warrior of Light
Series: Of shadows and light [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1934149
Kudos: 1





	Of shadows and light - ARR

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The story begins in the land of Coerthas!

White as far as one could see. Swirling like it was in turmoil. Peaks of stone reaching up to the cloudy sky to greet the falling snow that would tumble to the ground in big swirling waves. Coerthas, a place steeped in tradition and lately cold that matched the character of its people. No matter how Akito dressed it felt like the cold tried to pierce its way through his clothes and freeze him to death. Two figures followed him up towards Camp Dragonhead. Alphinaud and Cid shivering in the cold. A cautious glance that turned into an affirmative nod from the guard at the procuring of a letter and they were welcomed into Camp Dragonhead. 

The inside of Camp Dragonhead was just as cold as the rest of Coerthas if a little less windy. A passing traveller could be seen amongst the Coerthan knights but other than that it was quiet and far too quiet for Akito’s taste. Only the whistling of the wind could be heard. Akito let out a sigh of relief as he was greeted by the warmth of a hearth when he entered the main building. Just like all the other buildings it was made solely out of heavy stone. Inside there was a large, wooden table with a map and across it a desk, where a silver haired elezen was sitting. Upon noticing Akito entering with his two companions the silver haired elezen rose from his seat to greet them. “Welcome to Camp Dragonhead, adventurers. To what do I owe the pleasure?” Akito blinked a few times. Had he hit his head on the way in? This man’s smile was radiant. He quickly schooled his expression and walked up to the man with sure steps. “Lord Francel sent us. Said you might help us find my friend’s missing airship” Akito gestured towards Cid who gave a friendly wave while Alphinaud tried to bow in greeting despite still shivering from the cold. “I also bring with me a more pressing issue… you better read this” Akito handed the silver haired man the letter he was carrying. The elezen gently took the letter from Akito’s hands and started reading silently. “That they would accuse Lord Francel of being a heretic beggar belief! I thank you for bringing this to my attention. Lord Francel is a kind and loyal man. He would never do such a thing.” The elezen burst out in a passionate display of emotions. It was very uncommon for the people of this cold land. A tint of pink could be seen on the elezen’s ears as he caught himself. “Ah, forgive me. How impolite of me. I have not introduced myself and I am already making speeches. My name is Haurchefant. Might I know yours, adventurer?” Akito blinked twice before letting out a drawn out sigh and shaking his head in disbelief. This man was something else. Grand gestures and blinding smiles. “My name is Akito and this is my fellow travelers, Cid and Alphinaud.” He gestured indifferently towards the others who gave a small wave in greeting. Haruchefant smiled in return. “I will gladly help you find your airship. Especially since you warned Lord Francel of the incoming danger. You are of course welcome to stay here at Camp Dragonhead as long as you need to. I will make sure you will get the best the camp can offer.” Haurchefant beamed, happy to be of service.

Akito wished he could say that the passing days were calm as they waited to get to speak to the other high houses, but such was rarely the case. Although Camp Dragonhead gave the trio a warm resting place, much time was spent outside of Camp Dragonhead. Despite this Akito could not help but run into Lord Haurchefant ever so often. It was like the man was purposely seeking him out… but that could not be, right? Lord Haurchefant was a kind man, too kind. It made Akito’s skin crawl. Akito grew up in Limsa Lominsa where pirates always hid a sharp dagger behind a fake smile. It was difficult to accept the Lord’s kindness, especially since it seemed to be particularly focused on Akito himself. Akito was starting to doze off on the wooden chair he was sitting on but suddenly got rudely awakened by a knight. “Lord Haurchefant is requesting you in the main hall, sir Comet.” Akito dragged himself begrudgingly off the chair and gave the knight one of his deadliest glares before stomping past him. He didn’t have time to see how the knight reacted and he didn’t care. He didn’t want to play errand boy. He just wanted to sleep. 

“You asked for me…” Haurchefant were sorting paper hurriedly as Akito entered. “Akito I am terribly sorry but I need your help once again. Lord Francel is to be executed as we speak. I can’t get there in time to stop it if I am to procure some kind of evidence for Lord Francel’s innocence.” Akito could feel the stress radiating from Haurchefant all the way across the hall. By the gods, he was weak. Akito could not find it in himself to say no. He owed Haurchefant that much for his hospitality at least. “Fine, I’ll help. I can’t let that haughty know-it-all to inquisitor take Lord Francel’s life.” ‘Even if Lord Francel’s stupidity knows no bounds’ Akito thought to himself. “Oh, thank you, my dear friend. I am in your debt.” Haurchefant let out a sigh of relief, looking much too thankful for Akito’s comfort. Akito’s ears turned a light shade of pink at being called a dear friend and he quickly took his leave as he was afraid that if he stayed any longer he would embarrass himself. Haurchefant had been quick to call Akito a dear friend and for some unknown reason it made Akito’s heart speed up a bit. He wasn’t used to such open friendliness towards him and the more time he spent with Haurchefant the more he had a hard time to find the reason for such friendliness. What was Haurchefant after? Surely it could not only be his help with the whole heretic affair. He has been asked to help with such things before… and still done it without much fuss although a bit reluctantly. The mere thought that Haurchefant just wanted to be his friend gave Akito too much hope for his own comfort. ‘Better to smother it now than let it grow and get hurt’ He thought to himself, clutching the front of his thick, currant colored jacket. 

If Akito could frown any more the corners of his mouth would reach the floor. Lord Francel looked ready to jump as Akito approached the snowy clearing (everything was snowy in Coerthas) with House Fortemps’ knights. “Please, Lord Francel, stay alive a bit longer will you? I just saved you and it would be an awful waste to see you die.” Akito drawled as he stepped out from behind the cliff he used as a hiding place. “Sir Comet!” The blond lord exclaimed, looking just as surprised as the inquisitor’s knights around him. The inquisitor quickly took note of them and apparently the emblem on the Fortemp knights’ shields too. He spared no time in calling for their arrest. “What is the meaning of this? You are disturbing a trial. Knights seize them! House Fortemps and all who associates with them shall be deemed heretics for interrupting.” Akito couldn’t help rolling his eyes at the inquisitor’s display. “Not much of a trial if the accused isn’t allowed to defend themselves…” He muttered and readied his daggers for battle. 

As the battle raged on and Akito could feel the strain on his body from killing so many knights. He started to wonder where Haurchefant had disappeared off to. “Where the fuck is he?” He hissed between his teeth as he plunged his dagger into yet another knight, who made a gurgling sound as he slumped to the ground. Akito didn’t have to wait long however as Haurchefant came running down the hill with shield and sword raised. “I apologize, my friend for the wait. It took longer than expected to get all the evidence ready.” The silver haired elezen spoke between heavy puffs of air. “Well at least you are here now. I was afraid you were going to leave all the fun to me.” Akito half-heartedly sneered at the other man. The white ground slowly got painted red by the stains of blood. As they saw their victory approaching a wyvern came flying down from the cloudy skies, landing right between Akito and Haurchefant. “What the ever living shit! Ugh, nothing is easy is it? I’ll take the wyvern. Haurchefant, keep the remaining stragglers off me.” Haurchefant gave him an affirmative nod as Akito launched himself onto the wyvern’s back. The wyvern let out a shrill shriek as Akito plunged his daggers between its wings. The wyvern tried to desperately shake Akito off but Akito wouldn’t budge. With a strained huff he managed to plunge the daggers deep enough for something vital to get damaged. The wyvern let out a shrill screech and fell to the ground with a loud thud, just as Haurchefant cut down the last knight. 

“Hm, what is this?” Haurchefant pondered aloud as he reached for the dead knight’s corpse and plucked from it a draconian rosary. Both he and Akito stared at it in shock and then at each other before turning to the inquisitor. Akito glared holes into the inquisitor but Haurchefant patted him reassuringly on the shoulder as if telling him it would be okay. “Seems one of your knights was a heretic, inquisitor. It would certainly explain the wyvern. Care to see our evidence now about Lord Francel being framed?” Haurchefant asked as the inquisitor huffed at the revelation of both being wrong and having a heretic so close to home. “Fine.” 

The return to Camp Dragonhead was done in comfortable silence as the battle had taken some energy out of them. However when they had returned to the warmth of the main building, Haurchefant turned towards him with a giant grin on his face. “How you fought that wyvern was simply marvelous. Splendid! It really gets the blood pumping to see such an esteemed warrior as yourself in action.” Haurchefant in his enthusiasm opened his arms as if to hug him. A few seconds of silence passed as both men turned slightly pink in the face at the realization of Haurchefant’s action. Akito broke the silence by taking a step back. “I… thank you, I should go and speak to Alphinaud. We have lots to discuss in fact. It is very important. Airship things, you know?” Akito managed to blurt out before aiming for the door. Aimed for it he did but with his face. Akito felt a slight sting spread across his nose. He had forgotten to open the door in his haste. “Are you alright, my friend?” Haurchefant asked in worry, seeming to want to reach out to him. “Yeah, yeah, this fucking door is just being in the way. Nothing worse.” Akito opened the wooden door and fled out in the cold. ‘What the fuck was that!?’ He thought to himself. ‘You are being so stupid. Just cause he is being genuinely kind towards you doesn’t mean you should lose your brain.’ Akito kicked the snow underneath his feet as he berated himself. 

In hope of releasing some of his tension he went over to one of the training dummies. It was a sad thing, all beaten up and blisters could be seen sticking out from where a sword had stricken it repeatedly. ‘I almost feel bad for hitting the damned thing’ Akito kicked the dummy. The wood wet from snow made his boot slightly glide on it. He continued beating the dummy until he could feel his own hands and feet cramping from the cold. Just as he was about to return inside he heard the nasal voice of Alphinaud call after him. ‘What is it now?’ Akito huffed and rolled his eyes. “What do you want?” He quipped as he approached the young elezen, the snow creaking under his feet. Alphinaud took no note of his short tone as he was used to Akito’s temper by now. “Haurchefant has news for us on the airship. The sooner we hear it the sooner we can leave to find the airship” Alphinaud explained, ever eager to get going, never slowing down. Akito almost wished he did.

Haurchefant greeted them with his beaming smile as usual, but Akito could see it didn’t quite reach his ears. ‘Hopefully it isn’t because I acted like a fool before’ He thought to himself. “I am happy to inform you that an eye witness that saw your airship five years ago has stepped forward now that we have cleared Lord Francel’s name.” Alphinaud looked pleased at the news but his pleased expression quickly turned sour as Haurchefant continued. “There is however one problem. Your airship landed in the Stone Vigil. It is infested by dragons and house Durendaire who oversees the retaking of the Stone Vigil are like most houses suspicious of strangers. It will take much for them to trust you. I will of course write a letter for you, easing the process and confirming you are a friend.” Haurchefant stopped to take a breather before looking straight at Akito “I guess... this is farewell? If you ever need a place in Coerthas to rest your weary soul, you are always welcome here.” The silver haired elezen glanced towards Cid and Alphinaud as an afterthought. “So are your friends.” Before Akito could answer Alphinaud spoke. “Your hospitality has been most welcome. We thank you for all you have done for us, Lord Haurchefant, but we must take our leave.” Alphinaud bowed and Akito nodded slowly and looked at Haurchefant, trying to memorize his face, hoping he wouldn’t forget him. ‘Time to leave. Time doesn’t wait for people like me.’ Akito thought to himself as he waved goodbye. The last thing he saw before they made their way to Whitebrim was Haurchefant waving defeatedly back. 

“Son of a bitch! I’ll show a dragon claw so far up his ass that he wished he never had crossed us!” Akito was pacing back and forth, swearing in frustration. Cid was covering Alphinaud’s ears in a hope to protect the young elezen from Akito’s verbal assault. “We are all equally as frustrated as you are about the inquisitor’s meddling, but you need to calm down.” Cid spoke as he let go off Alphinaud’s head. “We were so close to reach the Stone Vigil but then the inquisitor had to go and ruin it all by making Lord Drillemont doubt us.” Akito huffed. “It is almost like he is trying to hinder us from reaching the Stone Vigil.” Alphinaud perked up from his own thoughts as Akito finished his outburst. “You might not actually be wrong. The inquisitor’s behaviour has been suspiciously unfriendly even for an Ishgardian. We should look into this.” When Alphinaud said we Akito instantly knew it meant him. “Fine, I’ll see if I can find anything on our mysterious inquisitor.” He shrugged and threw on his coat. 

He found something alright. He found the real inquisitor’s corpse in a ravine. Putting on his Lominsan charm and threatening the poor knight had proven to be useful for once. He wasn’t like Thancred who could just charm his way to information. Akito reminded himself that as fast as he managed to free the others from Garlean claws he would ask Thancred to teach him. Threatening only went so far… He missed the others. Maybe Alphinaud was right. The faster they got this over with the faster they could save the other Scions. With those thoughts in mind he picked up the dead inquisitor's corpse and the documents he had with him. 

Bringing the evidence to Drillemont had proved to be amusing. He was his usual charming self when Akito turned over the evidence. He couldn’t help but smirk as Drillemont tried his best to apologize for his past inhospitality, but that wasn’t the worst part. The worst part was that he had the audacity to ask Akito for help in capturing the imposter. “Are you serious? After you so openly denied us you want me to help you catch the imposter?” Drillemont nodded silently. Was he ashamed? ‘He should be’ Akito thought to himself. Alphinaud glared at Akito as if telling him ‘Don’t ruin our chances’. As if Alphinaud wasn’t the one who had vexed about the annoyance of Ishgardian politics first. Akito shook his head. “Fine, fine, I’ll help. So, where has that bloody imposter run off to?”

As Akito, Drillemont and the rest of the knights made their way across the snowy, windy landscape towards Snowcloak, they could hear two voices in the distance. One voice sounded like a distressed woman and the other definitely sounded like the inquisitor to Akito. As they treaded carefully across the ice they could see the inquisitor further up the path, accusing a woman of heresy. Akito made sure his black hair was out of his face as he readied for a confrontation. Hopefully it would not come to that but Akito was rarely lucky in such regards. 

“Move away from the woman, inquisitor” Drillemont spoke as his knights started to encroach on the inquisitor. “You are interrupting an inquisitor on his mission. You do know that it can get you arrested for heresy, Lord Drillemont?” The inquisitor spoke as the distressed woman saw her chance to run away. ‘Good on you’ Akito thought as the woman ran past him. “You would accuse me of heresy? We know your crime, heretic.” The inquisitor sneered at Drillemont’s revelation and suddenly pulled out a spellbook from his robes. “I am truly surprised it took you this long to figure it out. It doesn’t matter. Just imagine how many of your people I have sent to their deaths just because you are too blind to see what is right in front of you, all because of your stupid faith.” The inquisitor let out a cruel laugh before firing a spell at Drillemont and Akito. Akito quickly ducked out of its way and drew his daggers to charge at the inquisitor. As the battle raged on, the inquisitor grew more agitated as he had a hard time dodging both Akito’s subtle attacks and the knights’ more forward ones. Once Akito was sure they had the upper hand he would quickly be proven wrong when the inquisitor summoned wyverns to fight at his side. “Oh you gotta be kidding me. Wyverns again!? The heretics should be renamed to the wyvern club” Akito hissed and turned his focus towards the creatures. He could feel his daggers straining to plunge through the thick outer layer of the wyvern and he secretly wished he had a lance like the dragoons. With a bit of struggling he managed to dispatch most of them. As he turned to resume his attack on the inquisitor he wondered if he was losing his mind. The inquisitor was turning into a wyvern. ‘Okay… that is new.’ Akito stared with wide eyes and hesitantly started to approach his target. He had never fought a man turned wyvern before. “Do not be fooled by these illusions.” He could hear Drillemont shout to his knights. ‘Ah, magic. That certainly explains it.’ Akito silently approached the inquisitor-wyvern from behind. When his enemy was distracted enough by the others he struck, daggers sinking deep into the inquisitor’s body. The inquisitor let out a silent gasp as his illusion got dispelled and his body fell with a heavy thud unto the snow. Akito looked up to see the knights nodding in approval while Drillemont looked like his usual cheery self. “Leave his body. His kind does not deserve the honor of a proper burial.” Drillemont sneered before leaving Akito to stare at the dead imposter. ‘Should I bury him… it would be cruel not to, but best not jeopardize our relationship with Ishgard. Even though they are a bunch of high-strung twats.’ He shook his head and followed Drillemont and his knights back to Whitebrim.

**Author's Note:**

> Pls leave a kudos and comment if you like my fanfic. It is my first ever written one! ^^


End file.
